u/No_Reveal3451

I'm a handyman, and I film a lot of my own projects. I recently finished a series where I rebuilt a wooden gate over a 3-day period at a commercial property. I have several other projects involving small engine repair and custom built-in carpentry already filmed.

I'm looking for an editor who can craft a story out of the footage. Each job will likely be a multi-video series. I have about 9 videos worth of footage at the moment. I've also recorded audio with my Rode mics.

DM me, and we can talk some more.

I have too many painting and staining jobs where I could have gotten out in a fraction of the time if I had a sprayer. The last painting job was so long and hard that my body felt broken for about two days after.

I'm renting a sprayer from Home Depot later today to repaint new fence boards on a gate at a commercial property around where the trash dumpster is located. The fence boards I bought were so rough in texture that I knew it would take forever to paint all of them with a brush/roller.

I hate renting tools because it complicates the job, costs more for the customer, and puts me in a time crunch where I have to get the item back to Home Depot before I get charged for a whole second day that I didn't factor into the quote.

What paint sprayer do you all recommend. I'm not super price sensitive, but I don't think I could swing a sprayer that's $8K or something ridiculous. I've heard the Graco 395 and the Titan 440 recommended on here, but TBH I know little to nothing about paint sprayers.

I wanted to tape the area around the tub where I was applying new silicone since I wanted it to look really nice. Since I was doing a drywall repair just outside of the bedroom, I tried to multi-task and do both jobs at once while the hot mud was setting.

After I siliconed the tub, I got distracted with some of the drywall sanding, and I let the tape sit on the silicone longer than I should have. When I pulled the tape off, it partially pulled up the slightly firm silicone, and it was ruined. That mistake cost me about 3-4 hours of pain and suffering trying to get the wet silicone out so I could re-apply it.

That's the absolute last time I will every spend the extra attention taping a bathtub for silicone replacement.

Customer is having a butcher block counter top installed. I have to cut the short edge of the wood slab to fit.

I was considering using a straight edge and my skil saw, but now that I'm thinking of all of the ways that can go wrong, I may just want to drop the cash on a track saw.

What do you all recommend?

A neighbor called me and asked if I could fix her broken outdoor outlet. I went to Home Depot, got a new weatherproof box with a GFCI outlet, took out the old box, wired up the new outlet, tested it, added some silicone to the outside of the box where it meets the wood siding, and called it good.

She gave me $100 for the trouble, I thanked her, and I went home. Out of curiosity, I looked up what North Carolina requires as far as licensing for electrical work, and it appears to be very broad. Apparently, even replacing an electrical outlet requires an electrician's license. I wasn't sure if wiring up a ceiling fan requires the same, but it seemed to be the case based on the wording of the law unless the ceiling fan can be plugged into a ceiling outlet. The NC statute made it seem like if stripping and wire nutting wires together is required, then an electrician's license is also required.

Did I do unlicensed electrical work, or am I just not understanding the law? Am I going to prison?

This is a labor-only job. They want a new door since the dog chewed up the inside. I was considering charging $600 and allocating a full day to the job, but I'm wondering it that's too low.

My feeling is that as the economy gets worse, fewer people have the spare cash to spend on home improvements. Budgets get tighter. Repairs get pushed back. I just talked with a client who told me that they will have to wait until next year before they can afford to replace their fence.

I haven't been in this business through multiple boom and bust cycles, but I'm sure there are a number of people here who have.